European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU) — Publication of a vacancy for the function of Executive Director (Temporary Agent — Grade AD 14) — COM/2019/20038
Date: 2019-05-17
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: European Joint Undertaking, administrator, competition (EU), computer system, information technology, job vacancy, managing director, public-private partnership, recruitment, servant (EU)








CA2019169EN.01000101.xml










17.5.2019   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


CA 169/1






European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU)
Publication of a vacancy for the function of Executive Director
(Temporary Agent – Grade AD 14)
COM/2019/20038
(2019/C 169 A/01)
 

We are


European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU) is a public-private partnership involving as members the European Commission, Participating States that are Member States or States Associated to Horizon 2020 and the European Technology Platform for High Performance Computing (ETP4HPC) private Association and Big Data Value Association (BDVA) as Private members. Its mission is to develop, deploy, extend and maintain in the Union an integrated world-class supercomputing and data infrastructure and to develop and support a highly competitive and innovative High-Performance Computing ecosystem. The EuroHPC JU’s target is to equip the Union with an infrastructure of pre-exascale and petascale supercomputers by 2020, and to develop the necessary technologies, applications and skills for reaching exascale capabilities around 2022 to 2023. It will also support a research and innovation programme to develop the technologies and supercomputers (hardware) as well as the applications (software) that would run on these supercomputers.
The EuroHPC JU is based in Luxembourg.
The EuroHPC JU is set up for a period up to 31 December 2026 by the Council Regulation (EU) 2018/1488 (1) (in short, the Regulation).
During this period, the maximum financial contribution from the European Union to the EuroHPC JU covering administrative costs and operational activities should be up to EUR 486 000 000. The Participating States should make a contribution to the operational and administrative costs of the JU that are commensurate to the Union’s financial contribution.
For the period 2019-2026 the EuroHPC JU is composed of around 16 staff.
For further information please consult the following web site: http://eurohpc-ju.europa.eu/

We propose

The Executive Director is the chief executive responsible for the day-to-day management of the Joint Undertaking. He/she shall perform his/her tasks with independence and shall be accountable to the Governing Board (2).
The Executive Director is the legal representative of the EuroHPC JU and will lead and manage the JU and take overall responsibility for its operations including budget implementation, as well as ensure the achievement of its objectives. As such, he/she will play an important role in the implementation of the EuroHPC JU objectives as provided in the Regulation.
In accordance with Article 9 of the Statutes of the Regulation, the Executive Director’s responsibilities will include:






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Day-to-day decision-making and, in particular, organising, directing and supervising the operations and the staff of the EuroHPC JU within the limits of the delegation by the Governing Board as provided for in Article 16(2) of the JU establishing Regulation;










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Establish contacts and all the necessary agreements with representatives of all the stakeholders and members of the EuroHPC JU (the European Commission, Private Members and the EuroHPC JU Participating States);










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Sign procurement contracts, individual grant agreements, decisions and contracts;










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Monitor the operations of the petascale and pre-exascale supercomputers owned or funded by the EuroHPC JU, including the allocation of the Union’s share of access time, compliance with the access rights for academic and industrial users and quality of provided services;










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Prepare and submit to the Governing Board for adoption the draft annual budget, including the corresponding staff establishment plan indicating the number of temporary posts in each grade and function group and the number of contract staff and seconded national experts;










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Prepare and submit to the Governing Board for adoption the draft annual work plan including the scope of the calls for proposals, calls for expression of interest and calls for tenders needed to implement the research and innovation activities plan and procurement plans, as proposed by the Industrial and Scientific Advisory Board, and the corresponding expenditure estimates, as proposed by the Participating States and the Commission;










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Prepare and execute the Multiannual Strategic Plan and the Work Plan of the EuroHPC JU.










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Elaborate the Annual Activity Report including the information on corresponding expenditure and the Annual Accounts for submission to the Governing Board;










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Efficiently manage the EuroHPC JU’s budget in conformity with the Financial Rules of the JU and in particular providing the Union contributions to the participants in Research and Development and Innovation (R & D&I) activities in a timely manner;










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Establish and ensure the functioning of an effective and efficient internal control system and report any significant change to it to the Governing Board;










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Implement the EuroHPC JU’s communication policy.





We look for (selection criteria)

The ideal candidate will be an outstanding and dynamic professional who should fulfil the following selection criteria:






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High level management experience and capacity to lead a multicultural team, and in particular:






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Ability to motivate the team including administrative, financial and technical staff, in a European, multicultural and multilingual environment.










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Experience in the management of significant financial resources in a national, European and/or international environment and involving funding from public sources










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Experience in the implementation and management of Quality Assurance and Control systems as well as risk management methodologies.










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Experience in managing research, technology development, innovation or infrastructure programs in a European or international environment.














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Technical knowledge, and in particular:






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A thorough understanding of High Performance Computing technology and applications, including strategic, regulatory and policy matters, at national, European and international level.










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Knowledge of national, inter-governmental and European research and development programmes in the relevant technology areas of the EuroHPC JU.










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Knowledge of the industrial landscape and technical challenges of relevance to the area of High Performance Computing.










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Understanding of the EU Institutions, their functioning and interaction as well as EU policies.














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Communication and negotiations skills, and in particular:






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Ability to communicate effectively to the public and to build effective working relations with all relevant stakeholders.










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Excellent skills in written and oral communication as well as in negotiations.










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A very good working knowledge of English, which is the predominant working language in the EuroHPC JU, would be an asset.









Candidates must (eligibility requirements)

Candidates will only be considered for the selection phase on the basis of the following formal requirements to be fulfilled by the deadline for applications:






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Nationality: Candidates must be nationals from Member States of the European Union, EEA or EFTA.










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University Degree or Diploma: Candidates must have:






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either a level of education which corresponds to completed university studies attested by a diploma when the normal period of university education is four years or more;










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or a level of education which corresponds to completed university studies attested by a diploma and appropriate professional experience of at least one year when the normal period of university education is at least three years (this one year professional experience cannot be included in the postgraduate professional experience required below);














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Professional Experience: Have at least 15 years of postgraduate experience at a level to which the qualifications referred to above give admission. Of these 15 years, at least 5 years must have been acquired in the domains covered by the activities of the JU; the required professional experience has to be acquired after the requested diploma.










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Management Experience: At least 5 years of the post-graduate professional experience must have been gained in a senior management function (3) in a field relevant for this position.










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Languages: Candidates must have a thorough knowledge of one of the official languages of the European Union (4), a satisfactory knowledge of another of these official languages. Selection panels will verify during the interview(s) whether candidates comply with the requirement of a satisfactory knowledge of another official EU language. This may include (part of) the interview being conducted in this other language.










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Age limit: Candidates must be able to complete, at the date of taking up service the full mandate of four years before reaching the retirement age. For temporary staff of the European Union, the retirement age is defined as being the end of the month in which the person reaches the age of 66 years (see Article 47 of the Conditions of Employment of other Servants of the European Union (5)).




In addition, candidates have to have fulfilled any obligations imposed by law concerning military service; produce appropriate character references as to their suitability for the performance of their duties and be physically fit to perform their duties.

Independence and declaration of interests

The Executive Director will be required to make a declaration of commitment to act independently in the public interest and to make a declaration in relation to any interests which might be considered prejudicial to his/her independence. Candidates must confirm their willingness to do so in their application.

Selection and appointment

The Director will be appointed by the Governing Board of EuroHPC Joint Undertaking on the basis of a shortlist provided by the European Commission.
The present publication is organised under the responsibility of the European Commission in accordance with Article 8 of the Statutes of the Regulation, and with the involvement of the Governing Board of the JU.
The recruitment procedure to fill the post of the Executive Director is subject to the availability of the budget and the approval of the establishment plan of the JU.
The European Commission will set up a pre-selection panel. This panel will analyse all applications and identify a number of candidates who have the best profile with regard to the selection criteria mentioned above. These candidates may be invited for an interview with the pre-selection panel.
Following the interviews, the pre-selection panel will draw up its conclusions and propose a list of candidates for further interviews with the European Commission’s Consultative Committee on Appointments (CCA). Candidates called for an interview with the CCA will also be asked to participate in a full-day assessment centre run by external human resources experts. On the basis of the interview and results of the assessment centre report, the CCA establishes a shortlist of candidates it considers suitable to exercise the function of Executive Director.
Candidates on the CCA shortlist will be interviewed by the Member(s) of the Commission responsible for the Directorate-General in charge of the relations with the EuroHPC JU (6).
Following these interviews, the European Commission adopts a shortlist of the most suitable candidates, which will be communicated to the Governing Board of the EuroHPC JU. The latter may interview the shortlisted candidates before appointing the Executive Director from among the candidates on the Commission shortlist.
Inclusion in the European Commission’s shortlist does not guarantee appointment.
For functional reasons and in order to complete the selection procedure as quickly as possible in the interest of the candidates as well as that of the institution, the selection procedure will be carried out in English and/or French only (7).

Equal opportunities

The European Commission and EuroHPC JU apply a policy of equal opportunities and non-discrimination in accordance with Article 1d of the Staff Regulations (8).

Conditions of employment

The salaries and conditions of employment are laid down in the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants (9).
The successful candidate will be recruited by the Governing Board of the EuroHPC JU as a Temporary Agent under Article 2(a) of the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants at grade AD 14. S/he will be classified depending on the length of her/his previous professional experience in step 1 or step 2 within that grade. S/he will be recruited for an initial period of four years.
By the end of that period, the Commission, associating the members other than the Union as appropriate, shall undertake an assessment of the performance of the Executive Director and the EuroHPC JU’s future tasks and challenges. The Governing Board, acting on a proposal from the Commission which takes into account the above mentioned assessment, may extend the term of office of the Executive Director once, for a period of no more than four years.
Candidates should note the requirement under the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants for all new staff to successfully complete a probationary period of nine months.
The place of employment is Luxembourg, where the JU is based.
The post is available from 1 November 2019.

Application procedure

Before submitting your application, you should carefully check whether you meet all eligibility requirements (‘Candidates must’), particularly concerning the types of diploma, high-level professional experience as well as linguistic capacity required. Failure to meet any of the eligibility requirements means an automatic exclusion from the selection procedure.
If you want to apply, you must register via the internet on the following website and follow the instructions concerning the various stages of the procedure:
https://ec.europa.eu/dgs/human-resources/seniormanagementvacancies/
You must have a valid email address. This will be used to confirm your registration as well as to remain in contact with you during the different stages of the procedure. Therefore, please keep the European Commission informed about any change in your email address.
To complete your application, you need to upload a CV in PDF format and to fill out, online, a letter of motivation (maximum 8 000 characters). Your CV and your letter of motivation may be submitted in any of the official languages of the European Union.
Once you have finished your online registration, you will receive an electronic mail confirming that your application has been registered. If you do not receive a confirmation mail, your application has not been registered!

Please note that it is not possible to monitor the progress of your application on-line. You will be contacted directly by the European Commission regarding the status of your application.
If you require more information and/or encounter technical problems, please send an email to: HR-MANAGEMENT-ONLINE@ec.europa.eu

Closing date

The closing date for registration is 19 June 2019, 12.00 noon Brussels time, following which registration is no longer possible.
It is your responsibility to complete your online registration in time. We strongly advise you not to wait until the last few days before applying, since heavy internet traffic or a fault with your internet connection could lead to the online registration being terminated before you complete it, thereby obliging you to repeat the whole process. Once the deadline for the submission of registrations has passed, you will no longer be able to introduce any data. Late registrations are not accepted.

Important information for candidates

Candidates are reminded that the work of the different selection panels is confidential. It is forbidden for candidates to make direct or indirect contact with their individual members or for anybody to do so on their behalf. All queries must be addressed to the secretariat of the relevant panel.

Protection of personal data

The Commission will ensure that candidates’ personal data are processed as required by Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council (10). This applies in particular to the confidentiality and security of such data.


(1)  Council Regulation (EU) 2018/1488 of 28 September 2018 establishing the European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (OJ L 252, 8.10.2018, p. 1).

(2)  The Governing Board is composed of representatives of the Commission, on behalf of the Union, and of the Participating States. The Governing Board has the overall responsibility for the strategic orientation and operation of the Joint Undertaking and supervises the implementation of its activities.

(3)  In their curriculum vitae, candidates should clearly indicate for all years during which management experience has been acquired: (1) title and role of management positions held; (2) numbers of staff overseen in these positions; (3) the size of budgets managed; (4) numbers of hierarchical layers above and below; and (5) number of peers.

(4)  http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:01958R0001-20130701&qid=1408533709461&from=EN

(5)  http://eurlex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CONSLEG:1962R0031:20140101:EN:PDF

(6)  Unless the Member of the Commission concerned, in line with the Commission Decision of 5 December 2007 (PV(2007) 1811), has delegated this task to another Member of the Commission.

(7)  Selection panels will ensure that no undue advantage is given to native speakers of these languages.

(8)  http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:01962R0031-20140701&from=EN

(9)  http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:01962R0031-20140701&from=EN

(10)  Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2018 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data by the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 and Decision No 1247/2002/EC (OJ L 295, 21.11.2018, p. 39).